Thundering Darkness

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Darkthunder stared out blearily, her eyes adjusting to the gloom. Where am I? She tried to remember what she had been doing last night, but everything was oddly fuzzy. She dug her claws into the ground, feeling soft dirt underpaw. Darkthunder tried to stretch her muscles, but little bolts of agony flared through her, and she went limp.

Once Darkthunders eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness, she noted that there was bark surrounding her on all sides. A hollowed out tree, then. That was when memories of the previous night's events came flowing back into her mind. It was like a massive tidal wave, sweeping her away. Boulderpaw and her being attacked. Mysterious cats. Firbush.

As Darkthunder stretched her muscles in the small, damp, dark den, she noticed that Boulderpaw was leaning against her, letting out soft snores. He groaned, and Darkthunder noticed a long gash trailing along his side, and a few tufts of fur missing. She felt sparks of anger sear through her pelt. This was all Firbush's fault. He was going to pay for this.

Darkthunder traced her way around the hollow enclosure, trying not to think about why she had been put there. The only bit of light came from a tunnel, which was likely the sole escape route. Darkthunder wasn't a mousebrain, though, she knew that the entrance was probably guarded. After all, they obviously exerted lots of energy to get us here.

Darkthunder whirled around when she saw a scuffling of paws behind her. She bounded over to Boulderpaw as he opened his jaws in a massive, pained yawn.

"Ok, so what is going on?" he mewed blearily, blinking his eyes several times.

Darkthunder didn't even manage to get a word in before the grey tom continued on, in an excessively loud voice. "There were these cats that attacked us, right? Or was that my ultra big imagination? Cats fight so much nowadays it's practically all I dream about."

Boulderpaw got to his paws, turned in a circle, and prodded his side wound. He winced as he spoke, a tiny bit of blood trickling out of the injury. "Nope. Not a dream, Darkthunder. Just in case you were wondering, too. Interesting place, though. I've never seen a hollowed out tree before!"

Before the tom could go on yowling anymore, Darkthunder barreled into him. "Be quiet, mousebrain," she hissed sharply in his ear. "They're probably listening to everything we say."

Darkthunder knew she had probably spoken too harshly to the young cat, especially since he was wounded and had gone through the same things she had. Boulderpaw didn't seem chastened, though. Instead he said brightly, "I ain't got anything to hide!" and went silent.

Darkthunder rolled her eyes, as Boulderpaw sat down and began to meticulously wash the dirt out of his paw pads. She wondered how long the two prisoners would have to wait before a cat came in to talk to them. They can't be trying to starve us, surely? After all there's an exit. One thing was for certain though, as soon as she saw Firbush's smug expression, she was going to claw it right off his face.

"Hello."

Darkthunder practically jumped out of her fur at the monotone voice that spoke to her. She whirled around, just in time to see Icefall, Firbush, and another burly white cat she didn't recognize pad up through the tunnel and into the hollow.

Darkthunder bared her teeth in the beginnings of a snarl, and began bunching her muscles, when Icefall spoke sharply to Firbush. "Is she always like this? StarClan, why didn't you get her dealt with sooner?"

Firbush rolled his eyes, but it was the white cat that spoke. "That would have been mousebrained," he muttered, flexing his claws. "She was his apprentice for StarClan's sake."